Rondo is not transcendent, on offense. The man can't shoot. Even Obama called him out on that one, lol. I remember JVG calling a Celtics game and said that he felt Rondo should be relatively easy to defend... just back off him and make him a shooter.

Yes, he's a nice defender, but a transcendent player needs to be able to create offense when the entire opposing team is keying on him; however, Rondo is bare above average usage (20%) with pathetic ORTG. Discounting this year, Rondo's ORTG is 101, 103 & 104. And here on RR we slam Derozan for ORTG of 108-109 @ 28% USG?

Basically, Rondo has done squat since the Celtics big 3 started declining, beginning around 2010-11 season. Too flawed a player, and also a bit of head-case. Massively overrated, and calling him transcendent is a joke. It's funny how transcendent player, now seems to mean "a good player on a winning team that made it to finals multiple times", that we're now overlooking the player contribution himself. There's so much luck and opportunity involved in getting to the finals.

But still, there's like a double standard on this board, where our players are massively flawed and players like Rondo are now 'transcendent', just because he benefited from playing with a healthy KG before the wheels came off? I mean seriously, what's up with that?

But still, there's like a double standard on this board, where our players are massively flawed and players like Rondo are now 'transcendent', just because he benefited from playing with a healthy KG before the wheels came off? I mean seriously, what's up with that?

No, no, I'm just teasing.

I was really high on Rondo in the other thread, but you've actually persuaded me otherwise.

Rondo is not transcendent, on offense. The man can't shoot. Even Obama called him out on that one, lol. I remember JVG calling a Celtics game and said that he felt Rondo should be relatively easy to defend... just back off him and make him a shooter.

Yeah, you get pretty good from mid-range when defenses continually leave you wide open there. The way some guys guard him is mind-boggling. You should be up on him regardless of whether he can shoot or not. They're just letting him see passing lanes by sagging off.

Yeah, you get pretty good from mid-range when defenses continually leave you wide open there. The way some guys guard him is mind-boggling. You should be up on him regardless of whether he can shoot or not. They're just letting him see passing lanes by sagging off.

He's still gotten alot better. There's not a whole lots of flaws in his game anymore. He doesn't have 3-point range and he can be hard to get along with. That's about his only flaws... and he's top-5 talent in terms of passing and defense at the 1. He's probably the closest comparison in the league to CP3, just missing the range. That's a transcendent talent level of quality.

If his schedule involves heavy competition, then his practices aren't going to involve technical work and he won't be able to fully commit to conditioning, because you have to peak for your games.

Well he'll be joining the team long before competition starts. The coach will likely want to whip the team into shape knowing that they will have a game-heavy schedule. The competition is about 2 weeks long. Not sure how long before that he'll join the team (a month? 6 weeks?). Enough of that time should be spent on conditioning so that guys are prepared for a pretty intense schedule.

Well he'll be joining the team long before competition starts. The coach will likely want to whip the team into shape knowing that they will have a game-heavy schedule. The competition is about 2 weeks long. Not sure how long before that he'll join the team (a month? 6 weeks?). Enough of that time should be spent on conditioning so that guys are prepared for a pretty intense schedule.

Good point.

Those two weeks still do interfere a little. I guess less so with conditioning than with technical training.

But I'd still imagine there will be more of an emphasis on sets and team performance, which seems like lost time to me.

Don't think that's the difference-maker. Games are not going to destroy your ability to improve quickness. Game situations are the only definitive way to get a read on it. It's still the highest level of competition outside the NBA, with the fastest pace and best athletes. And practices for games are usually pretty intensive on the conditioning side.

The only negative is the lack of rest that could come with it. I'm hoping that no summer league will help that, as that would've been around the perfect time to rest before going to join his national team. Needs to get the chance to refresh his body a bit. Also the FIBA Worlds are shorter, and end a week earlier than last year's Eurobasket, so schedule-wise it should be a bit better. He had basically no time between last year's tournament and training camp.

I think most importantly is just the workout regimen and diet he has for the whole summer.

I agree that the Eurobasket is a great tournament and that games do help with improving agility

However, to properly change his body enough for next season, he needs to break down a lot of the weight he gained, and then turn it into proper muscle tone. Which takes a ton of dedication to that diet and workout regime you mention. Also don't forget that he has a lot of skills to work on and doesn't get off the bench for the Lithuanian team so isn't getting good experience anyways

Regarding JV, the Raptors have one of the best trainers ("directors of sports science") in the WORLD in Alex McKechnie, and I'm sure we'll see another big leap by JV next year.

- the reality is it's not easy for a 21 year old kid to transform his body in such a short time and instantly understand how he needs to maximize it against NBA level talent over a long season (not exactly summer league competition; JV's super young, let's watch him grow into his body more next year for a better indicator)

- And agreed on 'Melo. He's a "gettable" chip. But I'm still more interested in the possibility of building around Durant (not to flame that fire any more)

(One of the best articles I've read from Chisholm in awhile. He's bang on)

Even though Masai was quiet at the deadline, several player became available through buyouts...Jimmer Fredette is about to be bought out by the kings and Masai was interested in him earlier in the season...I hope he goes after him once the buyout is complete, he will be a scoring stud off the bench behind DD.

Great article by Tim. I've always been a huge fan of his work with TSN, and have enjoyed his articles on RR this year. I really believe Massai is biding his time for the summer of 2015. That's the last year Ross and Val are on their rookie contracts, and, presumably, the last year the Raptors will be projected to have significant cap space (Kevin Love?! ). I think what he does this summer will have 2015 in mind (i.e., bring back Lowry and Pat, but not Vazquez to preserve cap space, or dumping Novak). It's similar to the Indiana model and what he did in Denver. Time will tell.

In a world where realists are haters... I've always liked Chisholm's objective view of the Raptors, whether positive or negative in tone.

Objective opinion does not necessarily equal reality. In the case of Chisholm, it's just nicer and professionally written, but it's still alot of conjecture, just like the rest of us. Just beating the same, tired drum, which many of us have moved on from.

And another thing I don't get is how, all of a sudden, so many writers and fans have become arm-chair GMs who are now resident experts on how to build championship calibre franchises.

Objective opinion does not necessarily equal reality. In the case of Chisholm, it's just nicer and professionally written, but it's still alot of conjecture, just like the rest of us. Just beating the same, tired drum, which many of us have moved on from.

And another thing I don't get is how, all of a sudden, so many writers and fans have become arm-chair GMs who are now resident experts on how to build championship calibre franchises.

LMAO right! Everyone thinks they know it all when it comes to building a team and the GMs know nothing.

Objective opinion does not necessarily equal reality. In the case of Chisholm, it's just nicer and professionally written, but it's still alot of conjecture, just like the rest of us. Just beating the same, tired drum, which many of us have moved on from.

And another thing I don't get is how, all of a sudden, so many writers and fans have become arm-chair GMs who are now resident experts on how to build championship calibre franchises.

I don't believe it's a matter of thinking you're a resident expert, but rather just thinking out loud as to what you would do if you were the GM. I think it's also partly a matter of reporters attempting to be the one to correctly read between the lines and anticipate what such a secretive GM is actually going to do.

In a world where realists are haters... I've always liked Chisholm's objective view of the Raptors, whether positive or negative in tone.

CalgaryRapsFan wrote:

I don't believe it's a matter of thinking you're a resident expert, but rather just thinking out loud as to what you would do if you were the GM. I think it's also partly a matter of reporters attempting to be the one to correctly read between the lines and anticipate what such a secretive GM is actually going to do.

I think his point was that while Chisholm's articles are well written, he doesn't necessarily present a more objective or realistic point of view on the franchise than others do.

He provides one interpretation of the situation, and one possible path forward.